Hemi secures $15m to advance Bitcoin programmability ahead of TGE

With a fresh $15 million raise, Hemi says it’s building the alarm clock for Bitcoin’s $2.3 trillion in dormant value. The project aims to transform the world’s largest crypto asset from a static store of value into the dynamic foundation for a new DeFi ecosystem.

In a press release dated August 26, Hemi announced the close of a $15 million growth round led by YZi Labs, with participation from Republic Digital, HyperChain Capital, Selini Capital, Protein Capital, and Quantstamp.

The raise, which also drew a syndicate of other notable funds including Breyer Capital, Big Brains Holdings, Web3.com, and Crypto.com, brings the protocol’s total funding to $30 million. Hemi said the capital injection is strategically timed to accelerate ecosystem development and scale its infrastructure in the final stretch before its token generation event.

Bridging Bitcoin’s great divide

According to Hemi, Bitcoin’s $2.3 trillion market capitalization remains largely isolated from the innovation happening across the DeFi landscape. While Ethereum and other smart contract platforms have built vibrant financial ecosystems, Bitcoin’s security model has historically resisted such flexibility.

Hemi’s architecture, particularly its Hemi Virtual Machine, attempts to resolve this by embedding a full Bitcoin node within an Ethereum Virtual Machine, creating what developers call a “supernetwork” that maintains Bitcoin’s security inheritance while enabling Ethereum-style programmability.

The technical approach reflects a philosophical stance shared by Hemi’s founding team, which includes Bitcoin core developer Jeff Garzik and Proof-of-Proof consensus inventor Maxwell Sanchez. Their solution avoids the common pitfalls of Bitcoin sidechains or wrapped assets that often compromise on security or decentralization.

“Bitcoin doesn’t need to be reinvented; it just needs the right tools around it. Hemi provides DeFi protocols with a familiar way to build on Bitcoin, without requiring new skills, compromising on security, or sacrificing decentralization. Our partners share our conviction that Bitcoin can support more than just value transfer; it can support an entire ecosystem,” Hemi co-founder Jeff Garzik said.

The protocol’s traction suggests this vision is gaining substantial momentum. Hemi currently reports over $1.2 billion in total value locked, making it the largest programmability layer on Bitcoin by that metric. The network claims more than 100,000 verified users and a community exceeding 400,000 members, supported by integrations with 70 ecosystem partners including established names like Sushi, LayerZero, and MetaMask.

The HEMI token

The latest raise comes ahead of Hemi’s anticipated token generation event, for which the project has recently unveiled its tokenomics structure. The HEMI token will function as the core coordination mechanism for network security, transaction fees, and cross-chain settlement.

With a total supply of 10 billion tokens, the allocation prioritizes community and ecosystem growth at 32%, followed by investors and strategic partners at 28%, team and core contributors at 25%, and the Hemispheres foundation receiving 15%.

The token’s utility extends to incentivizing Bitcoin security inheritance through the Proof-of-Proof mechanism, serving as chain payment for security aggregation, and enabling governance through the veHEMI staking system.